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Doris Day tributes flood in as the star dies at age 97

It was announced on Monday morning that Hollywood legend Doris Day died at the age of 97 in California.

And soon after tributes started flooding social media for the blonde beauty who was best known for the films Pillow Talk, That Touch Of Mink, Love Me Or Leave Me and The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Katie Couric, who has the same perky demeanor as Day, was one of the first to share her thoughts online as she wrote, ‘She was one of a kind.’

She posted: Katie Couric was one of the first stars to share a tribute online to Doris Day who has died at age 97

Hot stuff: She was best known for the films Pillow Talk, That Touch Of Mink, Love Me Or Leave Me and The Man Who Knew Too Much

Antonio Banderas, who used to be married to Hollywood blonde Melanie Griffith (daughter of Doris’ friend Tippi Hedren), also shared a touching tribute.

The Puss In Boots actor wrote on Twitter, ‘Thank you for your talent. R.I.P. #DorisDay.’

And the Spanish star shared a gif of the actress and singer in one of her films.

Sweet salute: Antonio Banderas, who used to be married to Hollywood blonde Melanie Griffith, also shared a touching tribute. The Puss In Boots actor wrote on Twitter, ‘Thank you for your talent. R.I.P. #DorisDay’

They got along great: Stella McCartney shared this lively image with the quote, ‘The one, the only, the woman who inspired so much of what I do… Doris Day I love you, my calamity Jane’

Fashion designer Stella McCartney shared a lively image with the star and added the quote, ‘The one, the only, the woman who inspired so much of what I do… Doris Day I love you, my calamity Jane.

‘An iconic woman who I was hugely honoured to meet and share precious moments with. Rest in peace. X.’

TCM, the cable channel that often aired her old films, posted a very flattering photo of the icon from the 1950s.

She was in a blue blazer and white shirt as she modeled her signature blonde bob hairstyle which was the rage of that decade.

Their note read, ‘Our thoughts are with the friends and family of Doris Day.’ And they shared a link to a story.

They loved her: TCM, the cable channel that often aired her old films, posted a very flattering photo of the icon from the 1950s. She was in a blue blazer and white shirt as she modeled her signature blonde bob hairstyle which was the rage of that decade

They have screen magic: She sizzled alongside Rock Hudson in the Pillow Talk in 1959

Piers Morgan also shared a fun photo from her hey day as she posed in front of a bunch of daisies.

His read, ‘For those of us in my generation, Doris Day is synonymous with Hollywood icon. She would no doubt remind us, upon this day of her passing, “Que sera sera,” but we will miss her dearly anyway.

‘Rest now in our hearts forever, Ms Day.’

Raves: Piers Morgan also shared a fun photo from her hey day as she posed in front of a bunch of daisies. His note said, ‘RIP Doris Day, 97. Fabulous life, fabulous star, fabulous woman’

To the point: George Takei of Star Trek fame also got a note live fast. His read, ‘For those of us in my generation, Doris Day is synonymous with Hollywood icon. She would no doubt remind us, upon this day of her passing, “Que sera sera,” but we will miss her dearly anyway. ‘Rest now in our hearts forever, Ms Day’

He was a fan: Star Wars actor Greg Proops shared this fun photo of her in a makeup room

Her death was announced by her charity, the Doris Day Animal Foundation, on Monday.

The foundation said in an emailed statement she was surrounded by close friends and ‘had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia.’

She died at home in Carmel Valley, California.

The charity also revealed that ‘her wishes were that she have no funeral or memorial service and no grave marker.

Instead, they want fans to visit the charity she founded to save animals.

Between 1948 and 1969, she appeared in an astonishing 39 films.

She was married four times but only had one child, Terry Melcher, who died in 2004 after battling melanoma. She is survived by her grandson, Ryan Melcher.

As well as starring in some of the most iconic Hollywood films of all time, Day was a Grammy-winning singer and started her career aged 15 in Les Brown’s band.

Day, shown in the 60s, is among a handful of screen sirens who rose to fame in the heyday of Hollywood. She was known for her wholesome presence and referred to herself as ‘America’s virgin’

Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk, one of her most iconic films, in 1959

Her songs Sentimental Journey, Secret Love and Que Sera Sera have all been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

But her real life was marred with romantic strife and money problems, both of which she wrote about in her biography, Doris Day: Her Own Story.

‘I have the unfortunate reputation of being Miss Goody Two-Shoes, America’s Virgin, and all that, so I’m afraid it’s going to shock some people for me to say this, but I staunchly believe no two people should get married until they have lived together,’ she said.

Elsewhere, she wrote: ‘My public image is unshakably that of America’s wholesome virgin, the girl next door, carefree and brimming with happiness, an image, I can assure you, more make-believe than any film part I ever played.

‘But I am Miss Chastity Belt and that’s all there is to it.’

Born Doris Marianne von Kappelhoff, she grew up in Evanston, Ohio.

Her parents were a music teacher and a housewife and she dreamed of a dance career, but at age 12, suffered a crippling accident: a car she was in was hit by a train and her leg was badly broken.

On a swing: The looker posing for the 1962 movie Billy Rose’s Jumbo

DORIS DAY’S 39 FILMS

1948- Romance on the High Seas

1949- My Dream Is Yours; It’s a Great Feeling

1950- Young Man with a Horn; Tea for Two; The West Point Story

1951- Storm Warning; Lullaby of Broadway; On Moonlit Bay; Starlift

1952- I’ll See You in My Dreams; The Winning Team

1953- April in Paris; By the Light of the Silvery Moon; Calamity Jane

1954- Lucky Me

1955- Young at Heart; Love Me or Leave Me

1956- The Man Who Knew Too Much; Julie

1957- The Pajama Game

1958- Teacher’s Pet; Tunnel of Love

1959- It Happened to Jane; Pillow Talk

1960- Please Don’t Eat the Daisies; Midnight Lace

1962- Lover Come Back; That Touch of Mink; Billy Rose’s Jumbo

1963- The Thrill of It All; Move Over Darling

1964- Send Me No Flowers

1965- Do Not Disturb

1966- Glass Bottom Boat

1967- Caprice; Ballad of Josie

1968- Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

1969- With Six You Get Egg Roll

Listening to the radio while recuperating, she began singing along with Ella Fitzgerald, ‘trying to catch the subtle ways she shaded her voice, the casual yet clean way she sang the words.’

Day began singing in a Cincinnati radio station, then a local nightclub, then in New York.

A bandleader changed her name to Day, after the song Day after Day, to fit it on a marquee.

Her Hollywood career began after she sang at a Hollywood party in 1947. After early stardom as a band singer and a stint at Warner Bros., Day won the best notices of her career with Love Me or Leave Me, the story of songstress Ruth Etting and her gangster husband-manager. She initially balked at it, but the 1955 film became a box-office and critical success.

But she found her greatest success in slick, stylish sex comedies, beginning with her Oscar-nominated role in Pillow Talk.

She and Rock Hudson were two New Yorkers who shared a telephone party line and initially hated each other.

Romance on the High Seas, another of her notable films, had been designed for Judy Garland, then Betty Hutton.

Both bowed out, and Day, recommended by songwriters Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, won the role.

Warner Bros. cashed in on its new star with a series of musicals, including My Dream Is Yours, Tea for Two and Lullaby of Broadway.

Her last film was With Six You Get Eggroll, a 1968 comedy about a widow and a widower and the problems they have when blending their families.

Day is pictured with her third husband, Martin Melcher, in 1955. They were together for 17 years but a series of catastrophic investments made by him left her penniless

Day had one son, the musician Terry Melcher, who died in 2004. She is survived by her grandson, Ryan, with whom she is pictured in 1985

With movies trending for more explicit sex, she turned to television to recoup her finances.

Day devoted the last part of her life to animal rights

The Doris Day Show was a moderate success in its 1966-1973 run on CBS.

Her showbiz career began singing in bands, first in Cincinnati and then in New York where a bandleader changed her name to Day.

She had become enthralled with the notion of becoming a singer as a teenager while listening to the radio as she recovered from a broken leg.

She married for the first time at the age of 17, to trombonist Al Jorden who she said beat her while she was pregnant with her son Terry.

Terry was born in 1942. A year later, she left his father and went back to singing in a band.

She was married to her second husband, George Weidler, for three years until 1949.

Day is pictured in this 1958 photograph with Tony Curtis,left, and Buddy Adler, right, at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awards dinner

In 1951, after briefly dating Ronald Reagan, she married film producer Martin Melcher. They were together for 17 years.

Day continued working until the 1980s but devoted the last portion of her life to animal rights.

Although mostly retired from show business since the 1980s, she still had enough of a following that a 2011 collection of previously unreleased songs, My Heart, hit the top 10 in the United Kingdom.

The same year, she received a lifetime achievement honor from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Friends and supporters lobbied for years to get her an honorary Oscar.

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